


Hot Water

by perniciousLizard



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Human, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-08 22:27:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6876481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perniciousLizard/pseuds/perniciousLizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans thinks the guy making the coffee is hotter than the drink itself.  Grillby doesn't talk much, but they find a way to understand each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Water

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompt: Sansby coffeeshop au (can be monsters or humans)  
> Thank you, [screaminglizardlady](http://screaminglizardlady.tumblr.com/)!

There were two coffee shops between Sans’ place and his job, but the baked goods at the one a little further off his path won him over.  He’d stop there before work, as they were closing, and again in the morning after a long night napping in front of security screens. He’d grab a muffin for Tori before he left and stop at her place on the way home.  

“Hey, it’s Sans!” The woman behind the register, Fuku, waved him over. “Aren’t you kind of late?  You must be working too hard.” She laughed.

“you got me.  hey, grillbz.”

Grillby nodded at him from behind the counter.  

“yeah, just my usual.”  He yawned and went to go pick out a dinner/breakfast from the cake selection.  The place was dead, but even getting there late it was still early for most of the working population.  If he was still there in half an hour, the doors would open and the desperately uncaffeinated would pour in.  

Sans went to grab his drink, but since the place was so empty, he leaned against the counter.  "hey.  i got one for you.“  

Grillby didn’t stop working, but he tipped his head.  He was listening.  

“what do you call sad coffee?”

He thought maybe Grillby knew this one, because he was already shaking his head.

“depresso.”

Grillby looked down at the machine he was carefully cleaning.  

“ok so this lady says to her husband, ‘honey, this coffee tastes like dirt,’ and he says ‘that’s no surprise.  it was ground just this morning.’”  

That got a smile out of him.  That was always kind of a highlight.  There was a note on the cup in Sans’ hand that said “Caution: Contents May Be Hot” that could just as easily be on Grillby’s nametag.  

Grillby wasn’t a talker, so Sans wasn’t entirely sure what Grillby thought of him.  He laughed at some of Sans’ jokes, so that was good enough for him.  

–

The morning crowd was gone, but Tori was away on vacation so there was no reason to hurry out before she left for work.  Papyrus would already be up and out – Sans working nights meant they lived in the same house but they barely saw each other.  

Sans mostly kept himself right on the edge of being fired.  It was almost an art; doing just enough work to make it not worth his employer’s time to train someone new, but not enough to ever really be out of hot water.  One day he’d tip over that edge and he’d need a new job, but after yet another long night he was sort of looking forward to it.  

He got up to order another drink.

“The usual?”  Fuku looked like she was bracing herself for a joke.  

“nah, let me think.”  He was the only one ordering, so he took a minute to consider his options.  "hey, tell grillbz to make what he thinks i’ll like.“  

Paps earned enough to keep the house and them both fed if Sans lost his job again, but he’d have to stop blowing money on coffee and snacks if he was unemployed.  It was a shame they didn’t let you open a tab at this place.  

Grillby heard the order, since he was two feet away.  He appeared to consider it, and then just grabbed a can of whipped topping and set it on the counter.  

"ok, wow,” Sans said.

Fuku was laughing.

“at least squirt it into a cup first.”  He shrugged.  "oh well.“  Sans reached to take the can but Grillby took it away before he could grab it.  He’d lost the chance to just empty it into his mouth.  

Grillby held up his index finger and then gestured for Sans to go back to his seat.  Sans shrugged.  Didn’t take much convincing to get him to sit down.  

Grillby brought his drink over and set it in front of him.  

"hey, thanks.  uh.  how much is this running me, buddy?”

He shook his head.

“He’s not charging you for an experiment!” Fuku called over.  

“oh. thanks.  you can experiment on me whenever, then, if it means i get free drinks.”  

Grillby stood by, waiting to see how he reacted.  

“uh, should i be putting on a show here?”

He nodded.  

Sans snorted and took a sip.  

Grillby crossed his arms over his chest and waited.  

“uh. it’s not too bad.  it’s kind of heavy on…” he coughed.  "uh, everything.“  

Grillby went to take the cup, but Sans grabbed onto it.

"i mean, i’m still drinking all of it.”  Caffeine was caffeine.  He pulled it closer, defensively.  

–

During the big rushes, they would ask for names and write them on the cup. When Sans first started going, he spelled his for them and they never misspelled it.  After he started telling Grillby and the rest of the staff jokes, for some reason they all suddenly forgot how to spell four letters.  At first it was just “Snas” or “San,” but it got more impressive as time went on.  He had to stand by the orders squinting at the names, trying to parse out if he was supposed to be “Samuel” or “Santa.”  No one had a big white beard in the room, so he decided he got to be Santa that day.  

Sometimes, when it was Grillby writing the names, Sans would find a few words on the bottom of the cup when he was done.  "Nice shirt” was the first one he noticed, on a day off when he was out of uniform. He had on a t-shirt with abs on them, and he was glad to know it was appreciated.  

He looked up and Grillby was watching him, so he winked.

–

Some days, it was a race to get caffeine into his system before he nodded off.  He woke up during the morning rush.  Tori would have already left for work, so there was no reason not to just spend the rest of the morning drinking obscene amounts of coffee until Papyrus came looking for him at lunchtime and dragged him out. 

When he sat back down like he was clearly planning on hanging around, Grillby took his break and came over and sat with him.  

“oh, hey, pal.”  Sans yawned.  "let’s see if i can stay awake long enough to come up with something good for you."  

He could read concern in Grillby’s expression, and Sans realized Grillby thought of him as a friend.  

“no big, just the _daily grind_ getting to me,” Sans said, chuckling.  "what’s up?  you look like you have a _latte_ on your mind."  

Grillby shook his head, trying to look disgusted but amusement played at his lips.  That was the exact reaction Sans had been going for.  

–

Sans almost tossed the cup into the garbage without checking, first, but he spotted a flash of black marker on the bottom and saved it in time. He turned the cup over.  

A phone number.  Sans was shocked fully awake.  

Underneath, he read: "If you want to contact me, please text.”

Sans got out his phone and plugged in the numbers.  When he looked over, Grillby was busy and not paying attention to him.  Maybe pretending not to.  

When Sans got to work, he sent a quick message to make sure he had put the number in right.  

_*hey is it just me or is there something brewing here_

He added a winking emoji.  

_*I wonder who this is.  Hello, Sans._

_*ok just a quick question do you have unlimited texting_

Sans figured if Grillby didn’t regret giving him his number in 24 hours, that would mean Sans had gotten rusty.  He looked up bad jokes and coffee-themed pickup lines and sent them along until Grillby attached a selfie of himself flicking off the camera, stone-faced.  

_*i’ll cherish that picture for the rest of my life_

_*Send one back._

Sans drew a smile on his bag of potato chips and snapped a picture of it.


End file.
